Content

Get Started with the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure

Introduction

Microsoft Azure is a secure, flexible and high-performance cloud platform integrating multiple tools and managed services. It provides a complete set of tools to build, deploy and manage enterprise, mobile and Web applications in the cloud.

If you're new to the cloud, the easiest way to get started with Microsoft Azure is with Bitnami. Bitnami provides pre-packaged application images for Microsoft Azure cloud servers, so that you can get productive with your new server immediately. You can access and launch these images through the free Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure, which gives you an intuitive Web-based dashboard to create and manage your Microsoft Azure cloud servers.

In this tutorial, I'll walk you, step by step, through the process of using the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure to create and provision a new Microsoft Azure cloud server. And since Microsoft Azure offers a free trial with $200 credit for 30 days, you'll have plenty of time to experiment with your server and Bitnami stacks without worrying about being billed for usage.

Watch the following video to learn how to deploy WordPress on Azure using the Bitnami Launchpad:

Overview

If you're interested in creating a personal or small business blog, chances are that you're going to use WordPress. WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms in the world, used on over 60 million websites (according to Wikipedia). And it is not hard to see why: WordPress is very easy to use, comes with thousands of extensions and themes, is completely free, and is open source.

In this tutorial, I'll launch a cloud server with the Bitnami WordPress Stack, which gives you a pre-configured WordPress blog that you can start using right way. But WordPress is just an example: there are hundreds of other Bitnami applications to choose from, and they're all equally easy to set up.

Here are the steps you'll follow in this tutorial:

Register with Microsoft Azure

Create and configure a Microsoft organizational account

Register with Bitnami

Connect your Microsoft Azure and Bitnami accounts

Deploy the Bitnami WordPress Stack on a Microsoft Azure cloud server

Log in and start using WordPress

The next sections will walk you through these steps in detail.

Step 1: Register with Microsoft Azure

At the end of this step, you will have signed up for the Microsoft Azure free trial. If you already have a Microsoft Azure account, you may skip this step.

Begin by creating a Microsoft Azure account, by browsing to the Microsoft Azure website and choosing the "Free Trial" option for a one month free trial. You will need an existing Microsoft account to log in and sign up for the free trial; if you don't have one, you can create one here. Remember to keep track of your account username and password, because you'll need them in the next step.

Once you've signed in, sign up for the Microsoft Azure free trial by providing some basic personal information and your mobile phone number. Microsoft Azure will send a verification code to your mobile number, which you'll need to enter into the registration form. Once that's done, proceed to the next stage by entering your credit card information.

If you're wondering why you need to provide credit card information for a free trial, or if you're worried about being billed for services, relax. By default, Microsoft Azure trial accounts are configured with a spending limit of $0, which means that your card will never be billed unless you remove or modify the spending limit. Microsoft Azure needs your credit card information for security purposes, to avoid service misuse and to confirm your identity.

IMPORTANT: When your spending limit is set to $0, Microsoft Azure will automatically deactivate your cloud servers so that you don't incur any charges if your usage exceeds your free quota. Read about the Microsoft Azure spending limit.

The Microsoft Azure account registration machine will churn away for a minute or so, and you will then be redirected to your Microsoft Azure account management page, which allows you to manage your subscriptions, edit your profile and get support. You should see that your free trial is now active in the subscription list.

Step 2: Create and configure a Microsoft organizational account

At the end of this step, you will have created and configured a Microsoft organizational account.

NOTE: If you already have a "Microsoft work or school account" or a Microsoft organizational account, you may skip the account creation step. However, if you have a "Personal user account" or a Windows Live ID, you must create and configure a Microsoft organizational account. In both cases, you must grant this organizational account permission to access your Microsoft Azure subscription.

The easiest way to set up your Microsoft Azure cloud server with Bitnami's WordPress Stack is via the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure, which gives you a simple control panel to provision, start, stop, connect to and check status of your cloud servers.

However, the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure can only launch cloud servers on your behalf after you link your Microsoft account with it. To create this link, you will need either a "Microsoft work or school account" or a Microsoft organizational account with permission to access your Microsoft Azure subscription.

Create a new Microsoft organizational account by following the steps below:

NOTE: You may need to request your system administrator to create the Microsoft organizational account for you if you don't have administrative permissions on your Microsoft Azure account.

From the left navigation menu, select the "Azure Active Directory -> Users and groups -> All users" menu item.

Click the "New user" button and create a new Microsoft organizational account by entering a name and email address. Ensure that the "Directory role" is set to "User" and click the "Show Password" checkbox at the bottom to view and make a note of the auto-generated password. Click the "Create" button to save the new user.

NOTE: The email address for the user account must belong to a domain recognized by Microsoft Azure.

The new Microsoft organizational account will now be created.

Once the Microsoft organizational account has been created, you must give it permission to access your Microsoft Azure subscription. Follow these steps:

Go back to the left navigation menu and select the "Subscriptions" menu item. Select the subscription you wish to use when launching servers through the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure.

In the resulting menu, select the "Access Control (IAM)" menu item. On the resulting page, click the "Add" button.

On the "Add permissions" page, select the new Microsoft organizational account created above and assign it the "Contributor" role. Click "Save" to save the new permissions.

Log out of the Microsoft Azure portal. This last step is important, as you may encounter errors in the following steps if you remain signed in.

Step 3: Register with Bitnami

At the end of this step, you will have created a Bitnami account.

The next step is to create a Bitnami account, so that you can launch a cloud server with the Bitnami WordPress Stack. If you have a Google, Facebook, Yahoo! or Github account, you can use your credentials from those services with OpenID to create your Bitnami account.

If you don't have accounts with those services (or you don't want to use them), you can use your email address and password to create a Bitnami account, as described below:

Bitnami will send you an email with a verification link which you'll need to click or browse to, to activate your account. This will also sign you in to your Bitnami account.

Step 4: Connect your Microsoft Azure and Bitnami accounts

At the end of this step, your Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure will be configured and you will be ready to provision a cloud server.

To connect the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure with your Microsoft Azure account, you will need either a "Microsoft work or school account" or a Microsoft organizational account. If you don't already have this, refer to Step 2 for instructions on creating and configuring a Microsoft organizational account.

Connect the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure by following these steps:

The Launchpad will recognize your Bitnami credentials and automatically sign you in. You may also be prompted to set up your Bitnami password vault by entering an administrative password. Enter a hard-to-guess password.

The Bitnami Vault password offers an additional level of protection against misuse: you'll need to enter it when performing certain operations, such as creating new cloud servers. Make sure you note it down for future reference.

You'll be transferred to a subscription setup page, where you can connect the Bitnami Launchpad to your Microsoft Azure account. Click the "Connect your account with Azure" button.

When prompted to log in, use the Microsoft organizational account credentials from Step 2. You may be prompted to reset your password as part of the first-time log-in process if you have just created the account.

When prompted, grant permission to the Bitnami Launchpad to access Microsoft Azure using your account by clicking the "Accept" button.

You will be transferred back to the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure and prompted to select which subscription to use for launching new Microsoft Azure servers. Select the subscription plan and click "Continue" to proceed.

Your Microsoft Azure and Bitnami accounts will now be connected.

You will now be able to launch new cloud servers with Bitnami application stacks.

Step 5: Deploy WordPress on a Microsoft Azure cloud server

At the end of this step, your WordPress blog will be running on a Microsoft Azure cloud server.

The next step is to launch a cloud server and get WordPress running on it. The Bitnami Launchpad lets you do this in just a couple of clicks. Follow these steps:

Select "Library" in the Launchpad menu.

Look through the list of applications available in Bitnami until you find WordPress (it's usually the first item in the list).

Select it and click "Launch".

Define a name, size and region for your cloud server. You can choose from an "A0" server, which uses a shared CPU to a "D15" server, which has 20 dedicated virtual cores. For more information, refer to the Microsoft Azure pricing sheet.

TIP: An "A0" server will work just fine for a low-traffic WordPress blog or for WordPress development.

Confirm your selection by hitting the "Create" button at the end of the page.

The Bitnami Launchpad will now begin spinning up the new server. The process usually takes a few minutes: a status indicator on the page provides a progress update.

Once the cloud server has been provisioned, the status indicator will show that it's "running", and the Bitnami Launchpad page will display the server details, including its IP address.

At this point, you should be able to browse to the cloud server, either by clicking the link in the Bitnami Launchpad (a new browser tab will open) or entering the cloud server IP address directly into your browser's address bar. You should now see your WordPress blog's home page with a sample post, as shown below.

The Launchpad page includes controls to shut down or delete the server. You can also obtain the SSH key for the server if you'd like to connect to it directly with an SSH client (like PuTTY on Windows).

By default, the Bitnami Launchpad creates an application user account named user and an auto-generated password when a new server is provisioned. You will need this password in order to use WordPress. To do this, go back to the Launchpad page containing the server information screen, look in the "Credentials" section, and make a note of the password.

Step 6: Log in and start using WordPress

At the end of this step, you will have logged in to WordPress and created a new blog post.

To log in to the WordPress dashboard, follow these steps:

Browse to the WordPress dashboard, usually at the URL http://SERVER-IP/wp-admin.

Log in with the administrator credentials from the previous step.

You should now arrive at the WordPress dashboard, which allows you to manage posts, pages and comments; customize your blog with themes and plugins; import and export content; manage navigation menus; add or delete new user accounts; and much more.

You can now add a new post using the following steps:

Select the "Posts -> Add New" menu option to create a new post.

Enter a title and content for the post. You can use the formatting tools at the top of the content area to format your post and add hyperlinks or images.

Optionally, choose the format and category for your post.

Publish it immediately using the "Publish" button.

And now, when you visit your blog's front page, you should see your new post.

Congratulations! You now have a working, fully-functional WordPress blog in the cloud.

You can keep your WordPress installation up-to-date with the WordPress automatic update feature. To access this:

Log in to WordPress using the administrator account.

Select the "Dashboard -> Updates" menu item.

Review the resulting page to see if WordPress needs an update. If an update is available, you can install it by clicking the "Update Now" button. You can also re-install WordPress if needed with the "Re-install Now" button.

Useful links

To learn more about the topics discussed in this tutorial, use the links below: